A woodcutter who works near Boundary Creek just off N.W.T.’s Highway 3 says he lost a year’s worth of work when a controlled burn went out of control. Kerry Smith says fire officials with Environment and Natural Resources were doing a back burn near his woodlot earlier this month to prevent a wildfire from spreading, but…
They’re unsightly and pesky, and have been known to induce a case of the heebie-jeebies. The elm spanworm has returned to the St. John’s area. Widespread outbreaks first started in the city in 2002, and since then, there have been several instances where the insect has infested large areas of the northeast Avalon. Councillor Jonathan Galgay told CBC Radio’s…
Concrete opposition Canada’s concrete industry has come out swinging against taller wood-frame buildings in general and the Quebec government’s recent decision to allow them in particular. The Canadian Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (CPCI) is arguing that taller wood buildings are not recognized by the National Building Code of Canada and are inferior to concrete buildings in terms…
In an ongoing conflict over building materials for mid-rise offices and housing, the Canadian Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute says the construction of 12-storey wooden buildings circumvents the Canadian building code process designed to ensure the safety of all Canadians. The Quebec government approved a building guide that would allow for the construction of wooden buildings up…
Ten days after the Quebec government announced a technical guide on building mass timber buildings up to 12 storeys in height, an institute representing the precast prestressed concrete industry suggested there will be a cost of protecting such buildings from fire, during construction. “We have already heard the insurance industry expressing their concerns of insuring…
Companies in British Columbia’s already struggling commodity sector were dealt another blow Monday in the sell off of stocks that sent global stock markets plunging. The S & P/TSX composite index fell more than 700 points shortly after markets opened, but by mid-morning it had recovered some of those losses and was down by 240…
Opposition critics in Newfoundland and Labrador are asking why the provincial government continues to aerial spray an herbicide flagged as a potential health risk to humans. Health Canada is considering new risk reduction measures for glyphosate, a product the World Health Organization described earlier this year as “probably carcinogenic to humans.” Provincial officials confirmed the…
Commodity prices are tanking and they’re bringing Canadian markets down with them, but experts say some provinces will be feeling the pinch more than others. “It’ll feel like a recession depending on where you live in the country,” said John Stephenson, chief executive of hedge fund Stephenson Co. Capital Management. He said everything from oil…
If the Quebec government further restricts logging activities in order to protect caribou, 2,931 jobs and $367 million of economic activity are threatened, according to an Economic Note published today by the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI). The new boreal caribou recovery plan, which is set to come into effect in 2018, aims to increase and…
Planting trees is back-breaking, repetitive work — but if two University of Victoria students have their way, robots will assist tree planters in the future. Third-year electrical engineering students Nick Birch and Tyler Rhodes have developed a prototype robot that is able to plant tree seedlings. “We’d really like it as something that can supplement…